Tuesday, January 1, 2019

In the second of our three annual Top Ten Lists, Jon R. Meyers picks his favorite books released in the last year.

10) RITUAL by Tim Miller. A first for me by the author. I was very impressed with the story being told here. RITUAL by Tim Miller is an originally dark and brutal tale that is accurately centered around those crooked religious beliefs and practices we all know and love, black and white magic, paganism, witches and witchcraft. This book keeps the reader engaged, while wanting more at all times, so much so, that I literally finished this book in one sitting after originally picking it up on a whim while looking for something new and dark and gory to read.

9) SEXTING GHOSTS by Joanna C. Valente. Joanna C. Valente’s collection is unique and creative and disturbing, it’s haunting, often thought-provoking, it’s brutal, has the power to mess with your head and emotions, it’s sometimes cute and cuddly, but don’t let it catch you off guard. It’s also just as dark and demented and depressing as it is all those other things. It’s got the right amount of psychological horror flair built up between this sort of new, hip, modern, and edgy prose.

8) GODS OF THE DARK WEB by Lucas Magnum. The dark web is the darkest of filth on the internet. One can search and find links containing some of the worst porn imaginable, think snuff films, think real life murder videos, think weapons, think the anarchist cookbook but with more pervasive filth lingering in an online community of black markets, that’s what the dark web is all about. This is where Mangum shows us just how low down and dirty he can get with his writing and trust me it’s just as beautiful as it is messed up and sick and demented, not to mention there’s a Lovecraftian creature from hell constructed of wires and computer monitors.

7) THE WINDOW by Glenn Rolfe. The author manages to knock this horror gem right outside the horror park, leaving you wanting to look behind you at all times. Whether it’s a trip down the hallway to the bathroom, past a mirror, or that godforsaken window after hearing a strange noise on the other side of the house, we as the reader embark on a flawlessly executed character-driven modern day horror tale centered around demonic seduction and possession unlike any other out there, whilst creatively joined by many of those classic horror tropes we all know and grew to love so goddamn much. I’m talking about all the alcoholic beverages, sloppy kinky sex and perversion, demonic possession, bikini babes, and those timeless teenage summer getaways, making this an epitome of the horror genre within itself.

6) COLD DEAD HANDS by Jeff Strand. I read this one a couple weeks ago. Strand’s writing instantly made the cut into my top ten of the year in this brutal supermarket survival tale. It is funny and dark and violent and all of the things I enjoy about the author’s writing in one fast paced and highly entertaining read.

5) THE SIREN AND THE SPECTER by Jonathan Janz. In his latest and arguably best work to date, Janz returns to the classic haunted house story, but with a much more modern approach. His prose is super tight and well-crafted, plot is original and unique even amidst such an overwhelming and overdone trope and is all-in-all an absolute pleasure to read. I want to also point out that I read this book in between binge watching episodes of “The Haunting of Hillhouse” and found myself preferring the plot here in this book far more than the limited daytime soap-esque of a storyline in that of the recently and highly trended horror series while embarking on a couple lazy days of “Netflix and Chill.” Tomato/banana, I know, but still… think about it. This is quite a feat in the year 2018, don’t you think? I feel like Brian Keene’s blurb on the cover says a lot about what this book really has to offer. “One of the best writers in modern horror to come along in the last decade.” This book, in my opinion, is no exception to that claim, having watched Janz hone up his skills from release to release before placing this haunted masterpiece of a gem in the palms of our dirty little horror hands.

4) A BETTER LIFE by Kyle M. Scott. The author shows us with ease he’s got the skills to spin yet another dark and twisted tale, filled to the brim with legendary occult and supernatural goodness, brutal violence, and unique nightmarish twists and turns at every turn of the page. Not everything is as it seems and not everything always goes according to planned out here in the Mojave Wilds. Some secrets are best kept in the dark where they belong.

3) ANIMALS EACH EACH OTHER by Ellen Nash. The author’s stunning and unforgettable debut found on the pages within are just as intriguing, creative, sexy, dark, erotic, heartfelt, honest, and amazing. Nash manages to deliver a brutally honest tale on the dark side of love and obsessive relationships through the eyes of Satanism, love, anti-love, and jealousy. ‘Animals Eat Each Other’ is a sadomasochistic anti-romance novel and modern late teen masterpiece that indirectly pays homage to the likes of Joel Lane’s Queer Punk Rock debut ‘From Blue to Black’, ‘Go Ask Alice’, or, maybe even a bit of Chbosky’s Perks of Being a Wallflower, but instead of making cute and cuddly mixtapes for Patrick, we’re listening to goth superstar Marilyn Manson, and taking fistfuls of synthetic drugs at a Rave Party, before embarking on an emotionally devastating and destructive rollercoaster of a relationship with more than one sexual partner.

2) A WINTER SLEEP by Greg F. Gifune. Not only is the author’s writing, storytelling, and craftsmanship top notch here, it’s engaging, sexy, haunting, eerie, unique, discomforting, emotional, suspenseful and all the above times a million. It’s a perfect modern-day horror story with enough darkness and suspense to last for days and then some. There’s even a bit of an underlying sci-fi twist present going on here that cryptically adds to the overall tension, leaving behind a beautifully horrific and tragic tale of lost love affairs, regrets, disloyalty and betrayal, psychosis, and madness. The author does an absolutely stellar job keeping us as the reader turning the page at all times to find out exactly just where the story is going. That’s where the true madness and darkness and the unknown prevails and spirals out of control before your very eyes. Just remember not everything is always as it seems. There may be a lot more than meets the eye going on in this one. And even then, you might not know exactly where to turn or who to trust, even yourself and your sanity is on the line here.

1) LIVE GIRLS by Ray Garton. The work of Ray Garton has always been a little guilty horror pleasure of mine. He’s one of my favorite working authors to date. I don’t think I’ve read anything he’s released that I didn’t like, and his stories just always seem to work, and they stick with me far after I’ve read them. This rerelease of his vampire cult classic, LIVE GIRLS from the 80s, is without exception. The author’s uncanny ability to spin an original tale different than anyone else, whilst managing to entertain, spook, shock, turn-on and terrorize the reader is beyond admirable. In this book, he manages to do the same while delivering to us his take on the vampire trope. Now, keep in mind… At the time, vampires weren’t these glittery teeny boppers high on sex before marriage with pretty boys with nice hair hailing from the glitter section in Outer Space like your kid sister’s bedazzled jewelry set. No, vampires were very different. Very scary. Very goth business casual, if you will. Secret society’s that consumed human blood and flesh and held sentient hierarchy very dear to their immortal blackened souls. This is easily one of my favorite vampire books to date. It’s an all-around great horror book jam- packed with flashy bright neon lights, trashy sex, suspense, gore, and mystery.

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THE HORROR FICTION REVIEW began in 2003 as an old-school fanzine, generally a 14-20 paged, stapled-Xerox publication featuring reviews of horror novels, occasional film reviews, and author interviews. In 2008--mainly due to skyrocketing printing costs--the fanzine became the e-zine you're now looking at.

THE HORROR FICTION REVIEW offers reviews FOR fans of horror fiction, BY fans of horror fiction. We rarely print super-negative reviews unless we feel a book truly deserves it (our biggest criticism is that we "like everything we read." This is the furthest thing from the truth. MANY books we read for review DO NOT make it into this e-zine). We've also been labeled a bunch of "fanboys" who write "fanboy reviews." Well, DUH. This is a FANZINE. If you want more critical reviews, a FANzine might not be the best place to look.

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THE HORROR FICTION REVIEW has been overwhelmed with submission material so please be patient. Our main reviewer, Christine Morgan, is currently accepting review material. Contact her through all your favorite social media sites. This note updated November 4th, 2018.